Question

Nurse Pınar, who has just started work, has been sharing on her Facebook page detailed information about patients diagnosed with rare diseases admitted to the wards at her place of work, without using names or pictures. is this right or wrong? why? why not?

Answer 1

It is wrong to share patient related information without their consent.  Health care information shared on social media sites for non professional reasons, without consent of patients is illegal and unethical. Person who does this activity is liable for punishment and can lead to cancellation of their professional license. A nurse can make use of social media to post challenging events or incidences that they've faced. But posting any patient related information that could possibly identify them is considered as invasion to privacy and violation of patient's right to privacy and confidentiality of information. And the information posted in social media can be retrieved even if the nurse deletes it and can be used as an  evidence against her in law suit.

In other words any patient related information obtained by the nurse during the course of care must be kept confidential. And such information should be disclosed only when legally required with an informed consent obtained from the patient or in cases when not revealing the data may cause harm to the patient.